FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions

During the history of the nation-state of Deseret, the Latter-day Saint people learned many lessons in education. Both from experience and through
ecclesiastical revelation. Some of these principles are laid out here. You can read the book "Revealed Education Principles" for the full story on how these came to be.

Jack Monnett, author of Revealed Educational Principles said,
"Could it be that our hardest education problems were answered by the prophets over a century ago?"
At Deseret Family Academy you'll find things familiar to Thomas Jefferson Education, Homeschooling, Community Co-ops and even
to traditional non-government private schooling, plus others.
We seek to undestand and implement the ideal type of education as revealed through Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and the prophets which will
prepare a nation to one day receive the Son of God as King.
We have studied multiple models of education and believe we will continually improve as more people get involved in helping a community
more perfectly implement correct principles. There are good principles in many models that match the principles of Zion,
but to follow all of the principles we must create a mixture of mostly things already done in various models while also implementing
new things at the same time, that really aren't new things but old things of Zion made new.
Overall, students learn to be leaders, self motivated and practice personal revelation by seeking their own answers to what God wants
them to study.
This takes student practice and parental stewardship with supporting mentorship from teachers and peers.
Parents guide students in the early phases of education, helping them set goals and transition over time
into completely taking control of their own education. The school staff is there to guide this process, assist the
parents in mentoring the student, and to be a resource for both the parents and the children.

Definitely not! We want every child to have an alternative option to government education.
While we are built on an LDS foundation, and hope to be ideal for Latter-day Saint familes,
the principles of true education are universal and leave the parent (not the school) as the source of truth
for a student. Non-LDS families can work with LDS families side-by-side to serve their communities while their children learn
in the process.
Also, LDS students listening to insights from students of other faiths would be encouraged,
since as LDS we believe in building relationships with those of all faiths in defense of religious freedoms in the world.
The right of all people to worship how, where and what they
may (Article of Faith 11) is sacred to
members of the LDS church.

That entirely depends on the people showing the demand for this new vision for education.
Deseret Family Academy is working to make a private school option affordable for everyone, yet fair for the teachers in
compensation (which is one of the revealed principles of education).
In order to acheive this, we will not begin our core education program (which replaces K-12 education)
until we have reserved all spots in our "100 Pioneer Families" initiative. 100 families who have expressed serious interest.
At that point, we will re-confirm the interest of all families and set a start date for the program.
So be sure to let us know your interest level on our Pioneer 100 page if you fall in this category.

Yes! We need self motivated individuals who feel called to mentor and inspire young minds.
Core teachers do not aspire to lecture, but should seek to inspire children to seek their own learning.
Please fill out this form with a comment explaining your interest and we'll contact you back.
Teaching positions are part time contract positions, but it's possible for a highly motivated individual to work
full time by taking on larger student stewardships.

Yes! Elective teachers are independent contractors. You teach whatever you want, and if there's a market for your class you'll have students.
If you can teach in an online environment, then the opportunity to teach can come sooner.
If you need to use the Deseret Family Academy building to meet with students, then you may or may not need to wait until the campus has opened.
Please fill out this form with a comment explaining your interest and we'll contact you back.

Elective pricing can vary widely, and depends mostly on the teacher setting the price. An average might be $30 - $50 per month per elective. You can add or remove electives as you and your student plan monthly goals. You can have many or zero electives, nothing is required. It's completely up to you.

Once it becomes available, the cost for the private school will be $199 per month per student for members of the early contributor community, $249 for others.
You are free to join the early contributor community any time, including after the campus opens.
The intention is to make a government school alternative reasonably priced so most people could afford it, yet still be able to pay
teachers a fair wage, which is one of the scriptural principles of a Zion education. In this spirit we hope to always keep the price low.
The failure of Saints to follow this principle was a
large reason why early church schools failed and the church created the seminary program as an alternative way to still reach students
in government schools.

Deseret Family Academy is not designed for profit, however we are not an officially registered non-profit because
that becomes an invitation for government interference and violation of privacy for donors and families.
Most of the tuition goes directly to the teachers. They are the most important piece of education after the parents.
This is backwards from the government models where administrators get far more than teachers.
After teacher pay a small amount goes towards building maintenance and administrative costs.

You can attend our free family presentations or webinars that we will soon have available.
Until then, watch the two videos on our home page.
We are also planning to publish more resources on this website for study of these educational ideals.

We revere Joseph Smith as the prophet of the last dispensation.
A testimony of Joseph Smith strengthens our testimony of Jesus Christ and the education principles that Joseph Smith and other Latter-day prophets taught.